To be disgusted that nurses may be striking for a 17% pay rise!

[justonemire]

Of course nurses should receive a fair salary and of course they have as much right as anyone else to ask for a pay rise. However to ask for a pay rise that is 5% above the current 12% inflation rate is just ridiculous and never going to be approved.

The average nurses salary is £35.600 and this would equate to a pay rise of £6.150.

Yes nurses do a great job but so do a lot of other key workers in the public sector who have only received 2%

The government simply cannot accept the nurses pay demands because if they do everyone else would go on strike for a similar deal. Where would it end.

Therefore the outcome is that people will not receive the proper level of care we are all paying taxes for. If there are strikes then The NHS will be run as if it is Christmas Day. God help us and our loved ones then.

There will be resulting misdiagnosis and deaths and where will the fault lie? Yes you can blame the government, Putin for invading Ukraine and pushing up food and energy costs, etc but I think we will also all blame the nursing profession too for asking for a completely unrealistic 17% pay rise.

You're not the only one feeling the rage. Then I went on social media and read post after post of "Nurses should try living on minimum wage" "Nurses should BE on minimum wage" Nurses are failing the NHS" etc etc from loads of bitter, resentful people.
OPEN YOUR EYES OP!!!

The Daily Mail have a nice headline on this that agrees with the OP.

Buy private medical insurance is wise if you have the cash. The lesson is clear - pots and claps but no pay deal. If the NHS does fail, nurses will end up with a better wage via private insurance services.

A Government minster's claim that nurses 'usually' only use foodbanks if they have been dumped or their boiler has broken sparked fury today

Unions said Education Secretary Gillian Keegan's comments, made while wearing a £10,000 Rolex, showed a 'staggering lack of empathy'

Like i said, they really don't care about nurses, the NHS or for the vast majority who cannot afford a 10k watch.

@NCFT0922 My husband's ward has a overtime ban in place, in effect this means that in order for the ward to be MINIMALLY staffed, i.e barely legally staffed, he has to book overtime through the bank system. This costs the ward roughly double what the overtime rate would be, and as it's helpfully classed as a second income as it's not the ward booking him, he gets 50% taxed on it. Now, this is a win for the government as they get more tax from all those nurses on the bank, but is a disaster for ward budgets and the NHS budgets all round. As his wages have effectively FALLEN in the 3 years since he qualified, we have no choice but for him to HAVE to work 2 bank shifts a week to meet our bills etc. This is the story with all the nurses on his ward bar the ones still living at home. How is it sustainable for budgets OR nurses to be run in to the ground, ultimately either going off sick or quitting altogether?

If you think nurses should be paid fairly then you would support the 17%. Nurses have had a real terms pay cut of 20% over the last 10 years! 17% is still a real terms pay cut.

They aren't just striking for pay, they are striking for the future of the profession. Think things are bad now? Imagine another 10 years of this dire situation. Throw in another pandemic and this country will be on it's knees.

This government have shown nothing but contempt for the nursing profession. Enough is enough.

My mum has spent a good part of the past year in hospital. During that time I visited her at least every other day. The amount of work they have to do is enough to cause anyone to burn out. Staff shortages make things even worse.

Mum said that she regularly used to tell the nurses looking after her to take a lunch break, that they would work through their break because they literally did not have time to stop, that they would regularly work hours past the end of their shift just to get the workload under control, all while keeping a smile on their faces dealing with awkward or difficult patients and visitors, or just dealing with patients in pain.

I know I would not do the job for the money. I salute, admire and respect anyone who does do the job. And the doctors, and the health care assistants, and the porters, ancillary staff, and everyone else working in our beleaguered NHS. If they strike, they have my full and complete support.

There are currently 135,000 job vacancies in the NHS. Yet the fact that students with 4 A* A'levels couldn't get into medicine this year was all over the news. Drill down into that, and it is the government that says how many students can study medicine each year. That leads to the only conclusion I can come to, the shortage of doctors, both GPs and hospital doctors, has been deliberately manufactured by 12 years of a Tory government determined to privatise our NHS.

It is our responsibility to support the nurses, the doctors, the entire NHS, and ensure that this Tory government is not allowed to dismantle it. Support it or lose it, dont ignore it.

@Pigriver vive la revolution! I'll stand by teachers if you choose to strike! ❤️

Deserve every penny in my opinion!

theyve had a pay freeze for 14 years and they save peoples lives

yabu

I'm always a bit puzzled by the posts saying that nurses chat or laugh at work so are obviously lazy and ignoring pts.

Guess what?
We chat and laugh with the pts too!

If you work somewhere no one ever laughs or chats then I feel really sorry for you.

Because despite how hard it is, despite how short staffed and the awful things we deal with, we can still support each other.

Morale might be rock bottom but I'll always try my best to keep it up.

Oh couldn't agree more
This government wastes so much money it's unbelievable. Who cares about saving 5 minutes off a train journey.
Who cares about probes to the moon to see if we can live there in 3 billion years time after we've finished off mother earth.
We'll have killed off the population way before that with poverty and climate change

I think 5% should be added to all income tax rates (25%/45%/50%) to fund it if everyone is in favour of these public sector increases.

There's no point in encouraging increases if the money is going to be found by taking it from elsewhere in the existing pot.

I support the strike unreservedly, nurses are grossly underpaid, along with other HCP, public sector workers, police, teachers, etc.

I am a Social Worker with 20 years of experience and a high level of responsibility and expertise. In 2002, as a newly qualified SW, I earned 29k, I earn 34k now as a senior SW. I pay for car parking, have no paid expenses and am expected to have a car for work. I work unpaid overtime every week and I’ve no doubt other public sector workers do the same. I have 24 days AL a year.

As a comparison, MPs earn 80k. They can claim expenses for food, travel, second homes, staffing (oh to have a PA) , tech…the list goes on. Some expenses run to 250k a year. Technically, they have 35 days AL a year however Parliament is in recess for several weeks a year. Or they can just do what Matt Hancock has done. They can also earn additional money as public speakers, second jobs, business and so on.

No idea what people in tech, finance, and so on are on but would hazard a guess it’s more than 30k. How many MNetters blithely say that both they and their DHs are earning 6 figure salaries.

The system is broken and grossly unfair.

Don't be ridiculous. Of course they should strike otherwise the Tories will never give them a decent wage. Do you really think nurses should have to rely on food banks set up by NHS hospitals? Do you really think they should accept a cut of 20% in real terms?

Most of my job is laughing and joking with my patients. I'm actually assessing them at the same time, I'm checking they are recovering and if not what actions I can take to make things better. In MH and LD settings communication is the most important thing.

It's a tally 17.6 percent and inflation is at 10.1. It would cost £9billion pounds to pay that amount of money. It is a rediculous amount to ask for when average wages are rising at 5.5 percent. I only got 4 percent. I am a Foster Carer. If all FC went on strike what would happen to all the children in care? We simply would never do it. You don't go into some professions for the pay.

@NameChangeLifeChange nurses in Australia earn consider more than ones in UK but cost of living is considerably higher in Australia too. My cousin lives there and sometimes spends double what we pay for some groceries. Also accommodation is so much more expensive than it is here. If you look at proportion of salary spent on average housing and average food spend for single person, actually average nurses salary in UK is slightly higher in terms of proportion left after average accommodation and average food for single person taken out than it is in Australia. Look at cost of things in Australia. A simple comparison of salary without taking into account cost of living does not make sense. My cousin is a nurse first in UK and now in Australia and she tells me she earns more money, but it buys less in Australia. She likes the more relaxed quality of life.

@caringcarer it's no comparison, fostering children at home and working in a 34 bedded acute ward where I take patients and coordinate the whole ward for instance. Keeping every pt safe and visitors happy despite lack of staff and equipment.

So because foster carers didn’t get a pay rise, no one else should get one either? I’m always confused by this mentality.
You’re right, I sure as hell didn’t go into nursing for the pay. That doesn’t mean that I should continue to accept real terms pay cuts, year after year, as our workload and responsibly continues to increase.
It’s not a ridiculous amount to ask for. It’s a few percent above what we would have been getting if our pay had kept in line with inflation over the years.

Nurses in the US were asked what made them go into nursing many said the pay 🤣🤣 completely opposite to here.

caringcarer
It's a tally 17.6 percent and inflation is at 10.1. It would cost £9billion pounds to pay that amount of money. It is a rediculous amount to ask for when average wages are rising at 5.5 percent. I only got 4 percent. I am a Foster Carer. If all FC went on strike what would happen to all the children in care? We simply would never do it. You don't go into some professions for the pay.

^^
with this logic anyone with a job related to some kind of care should accept two peanuts, a chocolate gold coin and a five pound note as their pay for the week and not moan.
they aren’t in it for the money so should work a stressful job in return for a lifetime of poverty, stress and without complaint.
whilst watching the government waste millions.
I’m sure we will all be very happy to be cared for by stressed staff who can’t afford to pay their bills, and think we will receive care of the highest standard from them.

I agree with you completely you speak absolute sense and logic…….

meanwhile back in the real world most people feel pay should reflect the skill and responsibility.
and recognise that anyone providing healthcare won’t do their best if they are stressing about paying their bills. And exhausted after being used and abused by a ruthless government.

ShirleyHolmes
I am a Social Worker with 20 years of experience and a high level of responsibility and expertise. In 2002, as a newly qualified SW, I earned 29k, I earn 34k now as a senior SW.
As a comparison, MPs earn 80k.
No idea what people in tech, finance, and so on are on but would hazard a guess it’s more than 30k.

A fairer comparison would be with London/South East SW salaries (with MPs, tech, finance) - Surrey County Council SW salaries here:

Social Worker: £36,282 - £40,146 per annum based on a 36 hour working week.
Senior Social Worker: £41,127 - £45,519 per annum based on a 36 hour working week.

Do you really think nurses should have to rely on food banks set up by NHS hospitals?

The starting salary for a newly qualified nurse (Band 5) is £27,055 (£32,466 central London) - why are they relying on food banks?

They are asking for 17%. Possibly not going to get it but that’s the negotiation start. I have enormous sympathy for them. I am quietly hoping the hospitality industry is next, what an uproar that would create

I cannot begin to tell you how stressful working in the NHS is. I finished my 13 hour day with a splitting headache & nausea, I was so stressed I can't sleep, all I can think is oh I didn't do that or fill in that form. It has never been this bad.

I have 18 years experience and am band 6, the pressure is relentless. Patients are already suffering, it's not uncommon to get to a patient who has significantly deteriorated because you have so many other pressures. Patients need help eating/toileting/monitoring/ admitting. I could go on. I fought all day last weekend (weekend staff levels are terrifying) to get a patient reviewed I knew he was really sick. 12 hours later!! he was blue lighted to a specialised centre due to a ruptured organ.

I cannot support the new staff, patients are so very sick now. I could cry but instead I keep going in but, this is to my detriment as I am really suffering with my mental health. Days off I am exhausted. Do you want staff like this caring for you? I am all for the strike!